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Russell 


LLUSTKATED  BY 


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WINSLOW  HOMER 

4 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/courtinOOIowe_0 


THE  COUETIN' 


JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL 


ILLUSTRATED  BY  WINSLOW  HOMER 


BOSTON 
JAMES  E.  OSGOOD  AND  COMPANY 

Late  Tickxor  &  Fields,  and  Fields,  Osgood,  &  Co. 

1  874 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1873, 
BY  JAMES  R.   OSGOOD  AND  COMPANY, 
in  the  Office  of  tlie  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

REPRODUCED  IN  HELIOTYPE  FROM  DRAWINGS  BY  WINSLOW  HOMER. 

I.    "  Zelde  crep'  up  quite  unbeknown. 

An  peeked  in  thru   the  winder." 

II.    "There  sot  Huldy  all  alone, 

'Ilk  no  one  nigh  to  /tender  " 

III.  "Yon  icant  to  see  my  Pa,  I  s'pose?" 

IV.  "Says  he,  'I'd  better  call  agin.'" 
V.    "An  ....  Wal,  he  up  an'  kist  her." 

VI.    "An  teary  roun   the  lashes." 
VII.    "In  meetin  come  nex  Sunday." 


THE  COURTIN' 


"Zekle  crep  up  quite  unbeknown 

An  peeked  in  thru  the  winder. 


THE  COURTIN'. 


OD  makes  seeh  nights,  all  white  an'  still 


Moonshine  an'  snow  on  field  an'  hill, 
All  silence  an'  all  glisten. 

Zekle  crep'  up  quite  unbeknown 
An'  peeked  in  thru'  the  winder, 

An'  there  sot  Huldy  all  alone, 
'Ith  no  one  nigh  to  hender. 

A  fireplace  filled  the  room's  one  side 
With  half  a  cord  o'  wood  in  — 

There  warn't  no  stoves  (tell  comfort  died) 
To  bake  ye  to  a  puddin'. 


Fur  'z  you  can  look  or  listen, 


"There  sot  Huldy  all  alone, 

'Ith  no  one  nigh  to  hender. 


THE  COVRTIN\ 


The  wa'nut  logs  shot  sparkles  out 
Towards  the  pootiest,  bless  her, 

An'  leetle  flames  danced  all  about 
The  chiny  on  the  dresser. 

Agin  the  chimbley  erook-necks  hung, 

An'  in  amongst  'em  rusted 
The  ole  queen's-arm  thet  gran'ther  Young 

Fetched  back  from  Concord  busted. 

The  very  room,  coz  she  was  in, 
Seemed  warm  from  floor  to  ceilin', 

An'  she  looked  full  ez  rosy  agin 
Ez  the  apples  she  was  peelin'. 

'T  was  kin'  o'  kingdom-come  to  look 

On  sech  a  blessed  cretur, 
A  dogrose  blushin'  to  a  brook 

Ain't  modester  nor  sweeter. 


xcant  to  see  my  Pa,  I  s'jjose 


THE  COURTIN\ 


He  was  six  foot  o'  man,  A  1, 

Clean  grit  an'  human  natur' ; 
None  could  n't  quicker  pitch  a  ton 

Nor  dror  a  furrer  straighter. 

He 'd  sparked  it  with  full  twenty  gals, 
Hed  squired  'em,  danced  'em,  druv  'em, 

Fust  this  one,  an'  then  thet,  by  spells  — 
All  is,  he  could  n't  love  'em. 

But  long  o'  her  his  veins  'ould  run 
All  crinkly  like  curled  maple, 

The  side  she  breshed  felt  full  o'  sun 
Ez  a  south  slope  in  Ap'il. 

She  thought  no  v'ice  hed  sech  a  swing 

Ez  hisn  in  the  choir ; 
My !  when  he  made  Ole  Hunderd  ring, 

She  knowed  the  Lord  was  nigher. 


"Says  he,  'I'd  better  call  agin!" 


THE  C QUE  TIN "'. 


An'  she 'd  blush  scarlit,  right  in  prayer, 
When  her  new  meetin'-bunnet 

Felt  somehow  thru'  its  crown  a  pair 
0'  blue  eyes  sot  upon  it. 

Thet  night,  I  tell  ye,  she  looked  some  ! 

She  seemed  to  've  gut  a  new  soul, 
For  she  felt  sartin-sure  he 'd  come, 

Down  to  her  very  shoe-sole. 

She  heered  a  foot,  an'  knowed  it  tu, 

A-raspin'  on  the  scraper,  — 
All  ways  to  once  her  feelins  flew 

Like  sparks  in  burnt-up  paper. 

He  kin'  o'  l'itered  on  the  mat, 

Some  doubtfle  o'  the  sekle, 
His  heart  kep'  goin'  pity-pat, 

But  hern  went  pity  Zekle. 


An  ....  Wal,  lie  up  an  hist  her. 


THE  COURT  IN  \ 


An'  yit  she  gin  her  cheer  a  jerk 
Ez  though  she  wished  him  furder, 

An'  on  her  apples  kep'  to  work, 
Parin'  away  like  murder. 

"  You  want  to  see  my  Pa,  I  s'pose  ?  " 

"  Wal  ....  no  ....  I  come  dasignin'  "- 
"To  see  my  Ma!    She  's  sprinklin'  clo'< 

Agin  to-morrer's  i'nin'." 

To  say  why  gals  acts  so  or  so, 
Or  don't,  'ould  be  presumin' ; 

Mebby  to  mean  yes  an'  say  no 
Comes  nateral  to  women. 

He  stood  a  spell  on  one  foot  fust, 
Then  stood  a  spell  on  t'other, 

An'  on  which  one  he  felt  the  wust 
He  could  n't  ha'  told  ye  nuther. 


tear  I)  roun  the  lashes. 


THE  COURT  IN  \ 


Says  he,  "  I 'd  better  call  agin  "  ; 

Says  she,  "Think  likely,  Mister"; 
Thet  last  word  pricked  him  like  a  pin, 

An'  ....  Wal,  he  up  an'  kist  her. 

When  Ma  bimeby  upon  'em  slips, 

Huldy  sot  pale  ez  ashes, 
All  kin'  o'  smily  roun'  the  lips 

An'  teary  roun'  the  lashes. 

For  she  was  jes'  the  quiet  kind 

"Whose  naturs  never  vary, 
Like  streams  that  keep  a  summer  mind 

Snowhid  in  Jenooary. 

The  blood  clost  roun'  her  heart  felt  glued 

Too  tight  for  all  expressin', 
Tell  mother  see  how  metters  stood, 

And  gin  'em  both  her  blessin'. 


"In  meetiri  come  nex  Sunday!' 


THE  COURTIN\ 


Then  her  red  come  back  like  the  tide 
Down  to  the  Bay  o'  Fundy, 

An'  all  I  know  is  they  was  cried 
In  meetin'  come  nex'  Sunday. 


